Scott Colom delivers remarks after HISTORIC Mississippi Senate race WIN | FULL SPEECH

[cheering] God bless you. God bless you.  God bless you. [cheering and applause]. For me, this journey started with a prayer,  y'all. And in Mississippi, our prayers have. often changed the course of history. For people  that don't know, the first African-American to. be a United States senator was from the great  state of Mississippi. [cheering] His name was.

Haram Revels and the way he got to be a United  States senator was he was a minister in Nachas. Mississippi. He was elected to be in the state  house. And when they were trying to figure out. who was going to do the opening prayer, someone  suggested hire rebels. He gave a prayer that was. so powerful that people at that convention decided  that he had a voice to be United States senator.

That's an example of the power of prayer. And  throughout our history, there's so many people. that lifted this state up through the  power of prayerless in very dark times. But we all know that prayer is only a part  of our Mississippi faith tradition. You need.

faith. works. And I'll tell you, throughout this  campaign, there were many times where I had to. have faith. There were times that I couldn't  get donors to answer the phone. They did not. believe a moment like this was possible. But  I kept the faith. There were times when I.

did my first town hall in Jackson, Mississippi.  Frank Figures helped me organize it. [cheering]. [applause] Less than 10 people showed up.  But I kept the faith. I kept the faith. There were times when I was tired and I felt  like I couldn't keep going, but I kept the. faith. And that is another tradition of our  state. Right. There's so many people that.

had faith in Mississippi at times where it  seemed impossible. People like Mega Evers. [applause] I can't help but think about  Mega Evers on Veterans Day. A moment like. this where he served his country and came  home to Mississippi and they wouldn't let.

him vote. But he had faith that Mississippi  could make progress. He had faith that one. day everybody would have the right to vote. He  had faith that a day like this was possible. [cheering] God bless you, Mega. God bless  you, Mega. God bless you. [applause].

When you talk about faith, you  can't forget Fanny Liu Hamer. who had faith that her being sick and tired  could move a nation to understand that places. like Mississippi have to matter. who had  faith that even after she became a national. celebrity and she could have gone anywhere in  the world, she came right back to Mississippi,

she had faith, y'all. And right now we have  several veterans of the civil rights movement. who are a part of her tradition of faith. Let's  please give them a round of applause, y'all. [applause]. And I'll tell you, one of my mentors  is the national president of the NAACP,

Derek Johnson. [cheering] [applause]. And one of the things that he told me a long  time ago that always stuck with me is that. in Mississippi, it's local people that make the  difference. Not just the names that are recorded. in history, but people that do the work without  any expectation of recognition. And I'll tell you, it's local people that had faith that Mississippi  could make progress. And it's local people like.

the people out here who had faith that we  can win this election. So, God bless you. [applause]. But as my mom would always tell me, faith without  works is dead. And we worked this election, y'all. We worked. God didn't want us to get  it the easy way. He wanted us to give it get.

it the Mississippi way. And I went out and had the  opportunity to campaign all across this state. and. learn the stories of so many Mississippians. I'm  reminded of the farmer named Michael from Octivah. County who told me how the tariffs meant that he  lost this customer that he had been relying on. to sell his soybeans and how that made the hard  work of farming so much more difficult. and how.

this was a passion that he had that now became  something where he was worried he was about to. lose, but he continued to work. I'm reminded  of the single mother in George County who had. three kids and told me that she has to drive to  Alabama for work and that the rise in gas prices.

as a result as a result of the one I ran meant  that at the end of every month, she's relying on. family and friends to determine whether she's  going to make it. and she's worried that that. support could run out. But she continued to work.  She continued to work. On this campaign trail, I remember the woman I met in Hattisburg that  was a kidney plant survivor and she told me how.

worried she was about these Medicaid cuts and  what that was going to mean for her healthcare. But instead of just sitting at the house  and complaining, she was volunteering on. a campaign to make a difference. That is the  work that makes Mississippi great. [cheering]. [applause]. For months and months, I've been telling everybody  everywhere I go that we're going to win this.

election. I was saying it eight and nine months  ago. Recently, I've been saying it on the news, [cheering] but every time I said  it, I pointed out that people were. going to give me too much credit for it  because it's not something that I did,

y'all. It's something that we  did. [applause and cheering]. All I did was have the courage to imagine a  night like this. I had the courage to believe. in Mississippi. I had the courage to understand  that we can show the country that Mississippi. matters. [cheering] [applause] Now, there's  so many people I have to thank who've done.

who've had who kept me in prayers, who've  had the faith, and who did the work. Now, my wife thanked a lot of people, so I don't  want to just repeat the people she thanked, but most importantly, I got to  thank her. [cheering] [applause]. God bless Nalia Dale Cologne. [cheering]  She sacrificed so much for this moment.

to be possible. She not only had  to raise our two daughters a lot. of times with me on the road. Thank God she  had Brenda Dale and Dorothy Cologne to help, but she also was very involved in the  campaign. She managed the food truck. She. made that dream possible for me. She's been  the love of my life. And as I tell people,

I can never lose an election because I've  already won the most important one. [cheering]. [cheering]. [cheering]. Nadia talked about how Lucy and Maddie  performed so wonderfully under tough.

circumstances and I'm so proud of them. My  mom, my dad, my brother, my sister-in-law, my aunt and aunties who sacrificed  so much, who believed that this was. possible. Thank you all from the bottom of  my heart. My cousins, everybody, [applause]. Congressman Benny Thompson. [cheering] [applause]. Listen, I'm going to tell this real quick. Around  December, him and Derek and Diane Feldman, um,

who I I want to thank, let me thank all of them.  Let me thank Derek and Leticia Johnson. Diane. Felman, if people that don't know, Diane is my  political mentor and my friend. She's a great. uh transplant to Mississippi, but she's been a  great Mississippian and a great American. The. three of them had a zoom with me and Gerard, my  campaign manager, and they told me, they said,

"Listen, we don't think the Calvary is coming. We  think that the only chance you got is you better. get out there and campaign. Congressman  Thompson looked me in the face. He said, "You got to touch as many people as you  can. You got to get them to believe that. this is possible. You got to listen to  them. You got to show up." And I did. [applause] But they knew something about  me cuz I got an identical twin brother.

and uh I'm pretty competitive. So the minute  they told me I weren't campaigning enough, I said I'm going to show them. [laughter]  I'm going to show them. And if I had not. listened to them and I had not understood what  Congressman Thompson was telling me about how. to win a race in Mississippi, this moment would  not have happened. So in the bottom of my heart, I hope Congressman Thompson understands that  this victory is a testament to his leadership,

his vision, and his political  strategy. [applause] [cheering]. I also have to thank my good  friend Patrick Gasbart. Oh yeah. Whenever Mississippi has made progress,  there have been people outside the state. that believed in us when other people didn't.  Patrick was as tough on me as you could imagine, but I loved it because I'm used to tough  coaching, but he had the courage to understand.

what was required in this moment. And he had  the vision to believe that this was possible. when the so when the story of how this happened  is written, we got to understand it couldn't. have happened without Patrick Aspar.  Thank you so much, my friend. [applause]. And now I got to talk about the boy  genius Gerard Henderson [cheering]. [applause]. G. [screaming] [cheering] You know  I met G when he was at Mississippi.

State. He decided he took my mom's  class and she told him she should. he should intern with uh her son who was  district attorney. And after a few months, he realized he didn't want to be a lawyer. And he  picked the only job harder than being a lawyer, being a campaign manager. But there's so much I  could say about him. I truly I've I've I've come.

to love him as a brother. But what I would say  the nation needs to know about Gerard Henderson, he has the one thing that you need from a campaign  manager is he believed in Scott Cologne. God bless. you, my friend. [applause] God bless you. I got  to [cheering] I got to thank my finance director, Amanda Huber. Where's Amanda at? She probably  ain't here. You know, it's hard to get people to. want to raise money for a race in Mississippi.  That ain't easy fundraising. And for so long,

she had to push me in ways that were so creative  and so important. And when there were so many dark. days when it felt like we were not going to be  able to raise enough money to get our message out, she had she had she stayed in prayer. She had  faith and she was willing to do the work. So. God bless you, Amanda Hooer. We couldn't  have done this without you. [applause]. and my whole campaign staff, all the people  that donated, all the people that volunteered,

the amazing Ryan Sales, KP, my  brother who did the senator's ad, everybody who made this possible from the bottom  of my heart. Thank you. I can't name everybody, but God bless you. You all know how important  you were for making this moment possible. But I. want to have a final word to every Mississippian,  the ones that voted for me, the ones that didn't. vote for me, and the ones that didn't vote. My  commitment to you, each and every one of you,

is that first, I'm going to treat your children  like I want my children to be treated. [applause]. I'm going to treat your parents the way I  want my parents to be treated. I'm going to. treat your future the way I want my future  to be. My commitment is to be someone that. continues to stay in prayer, continues  to have faith, and continues to work to.

make every Mississippian's life better.  That's what you're getting. [applause]. And I make a solid a solemn I make a solemn  commitment to each and every Mississippiian. today. In every decision I make, I will never  forget the most important thing is Mississippi. matters. God bless y'all. God bless y'all.  Thank [cheering] y'all. God bless y'all. God.

bless y'all. Thank you so much. God bless you.  Hey, it's Rachel. I am so glad to see you at the. end of that clip because this is where I get  to tell you about a new way to watch all our. clips and all of our shows and everything on MS  Now on your phone or your tablet or your laptop. You can watch things live or recorded.  Plus, you can ask me and all the other. hosts and reporters questions in our weekly  live chats. You can go to ms.now/membership.

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